Automatic winding form assembly and machine



Sept. 2, 1969 R. G. HARELSON ETAL 3,464,639

AUTOMATIC WINDING FORM ASSEMBLY AND MACHINE Filed March 3. 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet l Sept 2, 1969 R. G. HARELSON ETAL AUTOMATIC WINDING FORM ASSEMBLY AND MACHINE 5 Sheetsheet Filed March 5, 1967 5. Pw ZM il; WW2. /fm i 3 PK m Cl Y [IILMUil /.//%/////%f Set 2, w69 R. G. HARELsoN ETAL 3,454,639

' AUTOMATIC WINDING FORM ASSEMBLY AND MACHINE Filed March 3, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 mima- FIGS 3,464,639 AUTOMATIC WINDIN G FORM ASSEMBLY AND MACHINE Robert G. Harelson, Florissant, and Kenneth L. Flynn, Hazelwood, Mo., assignors to Emerson Electric Co., St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed Mar. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 620,299 Int. Cl. B65h 81/06 U.S. Cl. 242-L1 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Upper and lower winding forms one of which has spaced legs with a guarded ratchet tooth latching section on them, the other of which forms has a ratchet tooth engaging pawl plate to effect positive locking of the forms. A machine with upper and lower heads for holding the forms and moving them axially into and out of a stator and with a cam plate and cam for automatically camming the pawl plate out of locking engagement with the teeth. The cam plate acts to fix the forms against axial movement `when the forms are held by the head and to release the forms for axial movement from and to mounting position on the heads.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In Winding a stator of an electric motor by means of a stator winding machine, in which a gun with a needle at its end moves down one slot, turns, and returns through a different slot, it is common practice presently to use so-called winding forms to guide the end turns. These winding forms have the appearance of a double ended shoe tree, with legs extending between the two ends, the two ends and the legs being either all in one piece or rigidly joined. In installing winding forms of this type, one of the form ends is thrust through the bore of the core, and the form is moved radially outwardly, with the legs spanning the stack height. Outwardly radially extending ears project from the legs at the base of the form, and serve the dual function of end turn forming member and winding form locking member. The forms are held by means engaging the radially outer end of the ears, during the winding process. The forms are removed after the stator is wound with the particular winding for which the forms have been used, by moving them radially inwardly until the ears clear the bore-defining wall, and then moving them axially until one end of the form clears the end wires. This is all done by hand, which is time consuming, hence expensive, and subject to human error. Another disadvantage of such an arrangement is that the distance between the ears is xed. Accordingly, if a stack varies in height by one more or one less lamination from the proper height, for example, the form will either not iit, or will be so loose as to permit excessive axial movement during the winding process.

Attempts have been made heretofore to provide axially insertable forms, by making one of the forms xed to one or more legs, and providing frictional engaging means on the other of the forms, so that the two form parts can be shoved toward one another until the forms are tight against the radial faces of the stator core. This has not been found satisfactory, because the axially reciprocating or vibrating forces set up by the winding gun have pulled the forms apart, frequently to the extent that the needle jams against the outer end of the form.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a winding form assembly which admits of automatic, mechanical installation and removal, which is adaptable to accommodate automatically different stack heights Within practically wide limits, and which does not harm the windings.

nited States Patent O ice Another object is to provide a machine by which winding form assemblies of this invention can be automatically installed and removed.

Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawing.

In accordance with this invention, generally stated, a winding form assembly is provided which is adapted for use in an automatic winding form placing and removing machine. The winding form assembly includes upper and lower -winding forms one of which has at least one leg securely mounted to project toward the other form. The leg has along its outer end a series of latching means, and the other form has engaging means for receiving and positively engaging the latching means whereby to lock the leg against movement away from the other form when the latching and engaging means are in engagement. The form which carries the engaging means also carries releasing means which permit selectively releasing the latch means from engagement. In the preferred embodiment, the latching means are ratchet teeth, cut into a stepped surface of the leg, in such a way that a guard rail is provided running the length of the ratchet teeth, to protect the winding when the leg is withdrawn. In this embodiment, the engaging means takes the form of a paWl plate, with a plurality of pawl teeth, normally biased toward engagement with the ratchet teeth of the leg, and provided with means, such as a projecting rod, accessible from outside the form, for permitting the pawl and ratchet teeth to be disengaged. 4

In combination with the winding form assemblies of this invention, a machine is provided for automatically lo-ading the forms into and unloading the forms from a stator core. The machine includes upper and lower form holding heads axially aligned with one another, and means for moving the heads axially relative to one another. Means are provided on the upper head for holding a set of upper winding forms and means are provided on the lower head for holding a set of lower winding forms, both in axial alignment, and with the legs of the winding forms in circumferential correspondence with a preselected slot or slots of a stator to be loaded or unloaded. Means are provided on both the heads for positively retaining the forms on the heads during a part of a cycle, and means are provided on the head adapted to hold the form with the engaging me-ans, for automatically releasing the engaging means from the latching means on the leg of the other part of the form assembly. In the preferred embodiment, the forms are located circumferentially by means of axially extending splines which t into complementarily shaped lipped channels in the forms. The forms are held against axial movement relative to the head by means of parallel radial surfaces of a cam plate, extending into a transverse notch in the forms. The cam plate of the head adapted to hold the form which carries the engaging means, is also adapted to cam the pawl plate from the ratchet teeth, to release the two form parts from one another while they are held on the heads.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing, FIGURE l is a view in front elevation of one embodiment of machine of this invention, without winding forms;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged, fragment-ary view, somewhat diagrammatic in character, partly in section, `of the machine shown in FIGURE 1, with winding forms of this invention in place and an unloaded stator core in position to receive the winding forms;

FIGURE 3 is a View corresponding to the View shown in FIGURE 2, showing the machine in the condition in which the forms are loaded into the stator core;

FIGURE 4 is a still further enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing a portion of the machine, a winding form assembly, and a portion of the stator core, in the position shown in FIGURE 3, the winding form assembly being shown in section;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional View taken along the line 5 5 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6 6 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7 7 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view taken along the line 8 8 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view taken along the line 9 9 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, showing a det-ail of locating and clamping mechanism of the machines;

FIGURE 11 is a view in elevation, partly broken off, of one winding form part of one embodiment of winding form assembly of this invention; and

FIGURE 12 is a fragmentary sectional View taken along the line 12-12 of FIGURE 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE 'PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing, and particularly to FIG- URES 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12, for one illustrative embodiment of winding form assembly of this invention, reference numeral 1 indicates a complete winding form assembly, including an upper winding form 3i, a lower winding form 4, legs 13 and 15, in this embodiment carried by the upper form 3, and an engaging assembly 6, which, in this embodiment, is carried by the lower form 4.

Each of the upper and lower winding forms has a wire guide section 34, bulbous on its outer surface and dat on its radially inner surface 36. Each of the winding forms also has an axially extending, lipped channel 37, opening through the flat surface 36 of the guide part 34, as shown most clearly in FIGURE 8. Each of the upper and lower winding forms also has a transverse notch 38, dened by a bottom 39 and side walls 40, perpendicular to the lipped channel 37.

Each of the winding forms also has a neck 42, dening, with the bulged portion of the guide part 34, an end wire receiving pocket 43. At the radially inner edge of the neck part 42, and extending axially inwardly, as viewed in FIGURE 4, is an apron 45, with a flat radially inner face and a chamfered, radially outward, axially inward, core edge 46. An axially inner, radially flat surface of the neck part 42, forms a shoulder 48. A stop pin 49 projects axially inwardly from the shoulder 48. The stop pin 49 projects a distance sucient to keep the shoulder 48 from impinging compressively on the ends of slot insulation projecting from slots in a stator to be wound, as indicated in FIGURE 4.

Both upper and lower winding forms have similarly located, axially, extending holes, opening through the shoulder 48. Holes 53 in the upper winding form 3, receive an end of the legs 13 and 15. The legs, properly angularly oriented to t stator slots, as shown in FIGURE 9, are held securely in place within the holes 53 by means of set screws 54 threadedly mounted in tapped holes at right angles to the holes 53, as shown in FIGURE 4.

In the lower form part 4, holes 63 are of a size to admit the ends of the legs 13 and 15, and are axially aligned with the holes 53 in the upper form 3.

The legs 13 and 15 from the shoulder 48 through a distance corresponding at least to the stack height of a stator to be wound, are shaped to t slidably but closely inside two successive slots which are not to be filled during the winding process for which the winding forms are installed, as shown particularly in FIGURE 9. The distance between the legs 13 and 15 and the apron 45 is such as to permit the apron to enter the bore of the stator, but to prevent radial outward movement of the form assembly during the winding process. At their lower ends, the legs 13 and 15 are stepped, a riser part serving as a guard rail 50 extending axially the length of the step, and the tread surface being formed with laterally extending ratchet teeth 51. The axially outer facing corners of the legs are chamfered, as indicated at 52.

The lower form part 4 has a small push rod hole 60 opening through the bottom wall 39 of the notch 38, extending perpendicularly to the axes of the holes 63, midway between them. An -enlargement of the push rod hole 60, concentric with the hole 60, forms a stop collar passage 61` Both the push rod hole 60 and the stop collar passage 61 are circular in transverse section. A non-circular pawl plate passage 62 extends coaxially from the stop collar passage, and is symmetrically enlarged to form a cap seat 69. The cap seat 69 opens through the axially inner part of the bulged portion of the guide part 34, as shown in FIGURE 4.

A pawl plate assembly 70 is mounted in the holes 60 and 61 and passage 62. The pawl plate assembly 70 includes a push rod 71, which projects through the push rod hole 60 into the compass of the notch 38. The push rod 71 is connected to and, in this embodiment integral with, a collar 72 which, in turn is integral with a spring centering pin 73. Tightly mounted on the centering pin 73 and collar 72, is a pawl plate 75, shaped complementarily to the noncircular passage 62. The pawl plate 75 is of a transvense width to fit between the guard rails 50 of the legs 13 and 15, as shown particularly in FIGURE 12, and has a flat face 76 with pawl teeth 77, shaped complementarily to the ratchet teeth 51. A helical compression spring 80 seats around the spring centering pin 73 and against the radially outside face of the pawl plate 75 at one end, and Iseats at its other end in a circular well l81 in a cap 84 in the cap seat 69. The cap 84 is held in place by a set screw 85, and is finished to conform to the outside contour of the bulged portion of the guide part 34. The rod 71, collar 72 and pawl plate 75 are mounted slidably, so that an axial force on the end of the push rod 71 causes the assembly to move against the bias of the spring 80, and release of the axial force on the push rod 71 permits the spring 80 to move the pawl plate assembly axially toward the notch 38.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, a machine is shown by which a plurality of winding form assemblies 1 may be automatically inserted into and removed from a stator core. The machine 100 includes a base 101, a frame 102, electrical controls 103, core locating cylinders 104, an upper head 105, an upper head cylinder 106, an upper head piston rod 107, a lower head 110, a lower head cylinder 111, and a lower head piston rod 112. Micro switches 121, 122, 123 `and 124, adjustable ow control valves 131, 132, 133 and 134 and switch actuating rods 12S, 126, 127 and 128 are part of the control system for the machine.

A stator locating cylinder 104, is shown in detail in FIGURE l0.

The heads and 110 are shown Asomewhat diagramatically in FIGURE 1, and are shown in more detail in FIGURES 2-6. As shown in particular in FIGURES 2 and 3, the upper head 105 is threadedly mounted on the lower end of the upper piston rod 107. The lower head is threadedly mounted on the upper end of the lower piston rod 112. The heads are generally round in transverse section. In the illustrative embodiment shown, the heads have axially directed spline slots 150, opening into form guide channels 151, as shown particularly in FIG- URE 8. Spline plates 152 are securely mounted within the slots 150, each with a T head 153 projecting into the guide channel 151. Each head has an axial hole, coaxial with the piston rod 107, in which a cam shaft 108 is revolvably mounted. The cam shaft 108 has squared ends, the axially outer (with respect to a stator core as shown in FIGURES 2 4) of which ts closely into a square hole in a cam shaft lever 109. As shown particularly in FIGURE 7, the cam shaft lever 109 is mounted in a contoured cavity in the head 105, which permits limited rotary movement of the lever 109, hence the shaft 108. A cylinder 160y is mounted iixedly to the head. The cylinder 160 is connected by means of an air fitting 161 to an air hose, not here shown, and has a piston, connected to a piston rod 162, the outer end of which is pivotally connected to the lever 109. At its other end, the squared end of the cam shaft 108` is mounted in a square hole in a cam plate 113. The cam plates 113 of the two heads may be, but are not necessarily identical, because the lower head cam plate performs one more function than the upper head cam plate. For simplicity, however, in the illustrative embodiment shown, they will be described as identical in structure, though not in function. The cam plate 113 is provided with cam lobes 114 which, like the rest of the cam plate 113 have flat, parallel upper and lower radial surfaces.

A stator seat 170 is stepped to prevent radial shifting of a stator 180 seated in it. A locator and clamp pin 181, part of the core locator cylinder assembly, moves into a notch running the length of the outer surface of the core, to lock the core against rotation. The stator seat 170 is frame-like, and defines an opening wide enough to accommodate protruding ends 183 of slot insulators 182.

In operation, assuming that the machine is being put into operation for the first time, or that new winding forms are being installed, in the embodiment shown, four winding form assemblies are assembled, by hand, on an unwound stator core to the condition shown in FIGURES 3 and 5. That is to say, assuming that the legs 13 and 15 have been set at the appropriate slot angle, as indicated in FIGURE 9 and somewhat exaggeratedly in FIGURE `6, the legs are inserted in the appropriate slots until the stop pin 49 bottoms on the radial top surface of the stator core. The lower ends of the legs 13- and 15 are run down into the holes 63, and the lower form pushed up until the teeth 51 on the legs and the teeth 77 on the pawl plate have ratcheted past one another far enough to permit the stop pin 49 of the lower form to impinge upon the lower radial face of the stator core. As is indicated in FIGURE 4, the ratchet teeth are closely spaced, so -that there is little or no play, axially, in the assembly. When all four of the winding assemblies have been positioned, the loaded stator can then be placed in the seat 170. In the commercial embodiment, two start buttons are pushed to start the unloading cycle. The cam plates are in the position shown in FIGURE 6` relative to the guide channels 151. The clamp 104 is actuated to clamp and locate the stator and the upper and lower heads move axially inwardly to the position shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the T heads of the splines 152 moving into the lipped channel 37 in the forms. As the stop pins 49' near the surface of the stator, rods 126 and 127 clear the micro switches 122 and 124 respectively. The micro switches act to open valves to supply air to the cam shaft lever cylinder which biases the lever 109, hence the shaft 108 and the cam plate 113, toward the position shown in FIGURE 5. As the cam lobes reach the notch 38, they snap into the notch. In that position, a perimetric surface 115 of the cam plate lobes 114 of the lower head cam plate engages the outer end of each push rod 71, moving the rod, hence the pawl plate 75, against the bias of the spring 80, to a position at which the teeth 77 are disengaged from the teeth 51. The flow control valves are now automatically reversed, moving the two heads axially outwardly, withdrawing the forms from the wound stator. I-t can be seen that the draw of the upper head must be substantially greater than that of the lower head since the upper head must move far enough to permit the legs 13 and 15 to clear the wound stator far enough to permit its being removed from the stator seat 170.

After the winding forms have once been inserted in the number of stators to be serviced in each cycle of winding (e.g., if one is being Wound while another is being loaded, there are two stators involved per cycle), no additional hand loading is required. When the forms are mounted on the head, as has just been described, an unloaded stator core is seated in the seat 170, the load cycle is started, the clamps 104 are actuated, the heads with the forms mounted on them as shown in FIGURE 2 move axially inwardly until the stop pins 49 bottom on the opposite radial surfaces of the stator core. The cam lobes 114- being in the position shown in FIGURE 5, the pawl plate teeth are not in engagement with the ratchet teeth, so that there is no wear on the two sets of teeth as the ends of the legs move into position. The cam plates are then rotated to the position sho-wn in FIGURE 6 which both releases the forms for axial movement with respect to the heads and also permits the pawl teeth to engage the ratchet teeth. It will -be observed that the leading surfaces of the cam lobe perimetric surfaces are chamfered to provide a sloping cam surface. This performs a double function. It not only cams the push rod 71 radially outwardly when the cam plate is moved from the position shown in FIGURE 6` to that shown in FIGURE 5, but it also permits the pawl plate assembly to move to a position at which the pawl plate teeth engage the ratchet teeth before the radial surfaces of the cam plate lobes clear the side walls 40 of the notches 38, so that the winding form assemblies are assured of being snugly assembled. When the cam plate has reached the position shown in FIGURE 6, the heads move axially outwardly, the clamps are released and the loaded core is ready for winding. The micro switches 121 and 123 and the micro switches mounted on the stator clamp 104 are safety switches which ensure that the clamp is actuated properly during the cycle.

Numerous variations in the construction of the winding form assembly and machine of this invention within the scope of the appended claims, will occur to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure. For example, while two legs have numerous advantages in strength, stability and ease of construction and operation, one or three legs, for example, could be used for particular purposes. The machine and formslcould be designed to operate on a horizontal aXis instead of a vertical one, or the forms could be inverted, with a long draw on the lower head to accommodate the legs. In these latter embodiments, the terms upper and lower as used in the rest of the application would merely distinguish two different, axially opposed elements. However, the vertical arrangement, with the legs hanging down, has advantages of simplicity, since among other things, the legs tend to be selfaligning in that posture. The shape of the head, splines and various other parts may be varied, and some parts may be reversed. These are merely illustrative.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A winding form assembly adapted for use in an automatic winding form placing and removing machine, comprising upper and lower winding forms one of which has at least one leg securely mounted to project toward the other form, said leg having along it at its outer end a series of latching means, said other form having engaging means for receiving and positively engaging said latching means whereby to lock said leg against movement away from said other form when said latching and engaging means are in engagement, and releasing means for selectively releasing said engaging and latching means from engagement.

2. A winding form assembly adapted for use in an automatic winding form placing and removing machine, comprising upper and lower winding forms one of which has at least one leg securely mounted to project toward the other form, said leg having along it at its outer end a series of ratchet teeth, said other form having a pawl plate for receiving and positively engaging said ratchet teeth where-by to lock said leg against movement away from said other form when said ratchet teeth and pawl plate are in engagement, and releasing means for selectively releasing said pawl plate and ratchet teeth from engagement.

3. The winding form assembly of claim 2 wherein the outer end of the leg is stepped to provide a ratchet teeth surface and a guard rail running the length of said ratchet teeth.

4. The winding form assembly of claim 2 wherein the releasing means includes a push rod projecting from an outer surface of the winding form and a spring adapted to bias the pawl plate in a direction toward `the ratchet teeth of the leg.

5. A winding form assembly adapted for use in an automatic winding form placing and removing machine, comprising upper and lower winding forms one of which has at least one leg securely mounted to project toward the other form, said leg having along it at its outer end a series of latching means, said other form having engaging means for receiving and positively engaging said latching means whereby to lock said leg against movement away from said other form when said latching and engaging means are in engagement, and releasing means for selectively releasing said engaging and latching means from engagement, each of said winding forms being provided with a lipped channel, the said channels of the two forms being aligned in end-to-end relation when the leg of one is received by the engaging means of the other.

6. The winding form assembly of claim 4 wherein the forms are provided with an open transverse notch dened by a bottom and side walls and the push rod projects `through and beyond the surface of the bottom wall.

7. The winding form assembly of claim 2 wherein there are two spaced legs.

8. The winding form assembly of claim 3 wherein there are two spaced legs, the hat ratchet teeth surface of the two legs are adjacent one another and the guard rails of the two legs are on the laterally outboard edges thereof.

9. In combination with a plurality of winding form assemblies of claim 1, a machine for automatically loading said winding forms into and unloading said forms from a stator core, comprising upper and lower form holding heads axially aligned with one another; means for moving said heads axially relative to one another; means on the upper head for holding a set of upper winding forms and means on the lower head for holding a set of lower winding forms, said winding forms being held in axial alignment with one another, and with the leg of the winding form in circumferential correspondence with a slot of a sta-tor to be loaded or unloaded; means for positively retaining said forms on said heads during a part of a cycle; means for releasing said forms from said heads during another part of said cycle; and means for selectively disengaging the engaging means of all of the one set of winding forms from the latching means ofthe legs of the other set of winding forms.

10. In combination with a plurality of winding form assemblies of claim 2, a machine for automatically loading said winding forms into and unloading said forms from a stator core, comprising upper and lower form holding heads axially aligned with one another; means for moving said heads axially relative to one another; means on the upper head for holding a set of upper winding forms and means on the lower head for holding a set of lower winding forms, said winding forms being held in axial alignment with one another, and with the legs of the winding forms in circumferential correspondence with slots of a stator to be loaded or unloaded; means for positively retaining said forms on said heads during a part of a cycle; means for releasing said forms from said heads during another part of said cycle; and means for selectively disengaging the pawl plates of all of the one set of winding forms from the ratchet 'teeth of the legs of the other set of winding forms.

11. The combination of claim 10` wherein each of thel winding forms carrying one of said pawl plates has an open transverse notch defined by a bottom and side walls, and said pawl plate is connected to a push rod projecting through said bottom wall, and adapted when pushed to move said pawl plate out of engagement with the ratchet teeth, and the means for retaining the pawl plate carrying forms on the head and the means for releasing the two forms from one another includes a rotatable camlock plate having lobes, radial surfaces of which are adapted to be received in the open mouth within the compass of the sidewalls and a perimetric surface of which is adapted to cam on the projecting push rod.

12. The combination of claim 11 wherein the forms and heads are provided with complementary lipped channels and splines, extending axially and aligned, which act as guides and a part of the said means holding the form in alignment on the heads.

13. The combination of claim 12 wherein the forms have the lipped channels and the heads the splines, and the transverse notch extends perpendicularly to the said channels.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 25,281 11/1962 Moore 242-l.l 3,102,696 9/1963 Larsh 242-1.1 3,331,562 7/l967 Benshausen.

3,338,526 8/1967 Shaft et al. 242-11 FOREIGN PATENTS 207,436 9/1966 Sweden.

BILLY S. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner 

